helter-skelter

American  

[hel-ter-skel-ter] / ˈhɛl tərˈskɛl tər /

adverb

1. in headlong and disorderly haste.

   The children ran helter-skelter all over the house.

2. in a haphazard manner; without regard for order.

   Clothes were scattered helter-skelter about the room.

---

adjective

1. carelessly hurried; confused.

   They ran in a mad, helter-skelter fashion for the exits.

2. disorderly; haphazard.

   Books and papers were scattered on the desk in a helter-skelter manner.

noun

1. tumultuous disorder; confusion.

helter-skelter British  

/ ˈhɛltəˈskɛltə /

adjective

1. haphazard or carelessly hurried

---

adverb

1. in a helter-skelter manner

noun

1. a high spiral slide, as at a fairground

2. disorder or haste

Etymology

Origin of helter-skelter

First recorded in 1585–95; rhyming compound, perhaps based on unattested skelt, Middle English skelten “to hasten”; further origin unknown); reduplication with initial h parallel to hubble-bubble, higgledy-piggledy, etc.

Example Sentences

Challambra Hill climb before the final helter-skelter dash to the finish.

From Barron's • Feb. 1, 2026

The conditions made for a helter-skelter session with drivers clearly struggling for grip on a track where F1 has not held a race for five years.

From BBC • Apr. 19, 2024

That helter-skelter transition threw much of the economics of entertainment out of whack.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 9, 2023

Mixmups follows three friends - Pockets, Giggles and Spin - who live in a helter-skelter house in Mixington Valley, which Rebecca says was inspired by Great Yarmouth.

From BBC • Oct. 29, 2023

While the roosters shrieked, the hens scrambled helter-skelter, commenting shrilly on the action: they clucked hysterically; they cackled obscenely; sometimes their alarmed voices were like machine guns.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

Related Words

• chaotic
• haphazard
• hurried